Agatha Christie Gallery at Torquay Museum

Photo credit - William Ward @ Wikipedia

The Agatha Christie Gallery at Torquay Museum, located in the hometown of the prominent novelist, hosts the only permanent exhibition in the UK dedicated solely to the Queen of Mystery.

Since 1990, the museum had various changing exhibitions commemorating Christie’s life and work; over time, the collection expanded to contain more than 700 items, and the exhibit became permanent.

The exhibit follows her life narrative, from her childhood in Torquay to her later years in Winterbrook. It includes information panels, photographs, and personal artifacts, such as clothes, handwritten notes, and first editions of her novels. The gallery also preserves memorabilia from the TV show Agatha Christie’s Poirot, donated by ITV Studios, Acorn Productions Ltd, HarperCollins Ltd, and David Suchet, who played the mustached detective. This part of the exhibition includes furniture, pictures, books, the fireplace from Poirot’s apartment, and his signature swan cane.

As part of the annual International Agatha Christie Festival, the gallery offers various events, such as talks and film screenings.

This gallery is one of the stops on the Agatha Christie Mile, a self-guided walking tour of Torquay that explores many of Christie’s landmarks. It includes her statue, the honeymoon site at the Grand Hotel, her roller-skating spot at Princess Pier, the strand from many of her novels, and the Agatha Christie bust on Palk Street.

A 30-minute drive south will take you to Greenway house and garden, the summer house of Christie and her family. Nowadays is a museum that provides a glimpse into her life in her home and the surroundings she loved.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was born in Torquay, England. At five, she self-learned to read, and five years later, she wrote her first poem. As a young female author, her works got rejected by publishers. Only in 1920 did she publish her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. It was the first appearance of her most famous character, Hercule Poirot, who later appeared in 25 more books and numerous short stories. Her experiences and world travel influenced Her writing. During her life, she published 74 novels (66 of them are thrillers), 14 short-stories collections, and 19 plays. Her books were translated into over 100 languages, and many of them got adapted into films, TV series, and stage plays.

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529 Babbacombe Rd, Torquay, TQ1 1HG, England

 

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